As the hurricane season neared an end this week, it was overshadowed by winter weather arriving just in time for Thanksgiving.

The 2013 Atlantic hurricane season fizzled away without making much of an impression on Eastern North Carolina. Tropical Storm Andrea, the first named storm of the season, swept through the area in early June.

Meteorologist Casey Dail of the National Weather Service office in Newport said the storm brought notable widespread rain of 2 inches to 5 inches across the forecast area and was the only storm system of the season to impact the area.

“That was it,” she said.

The 2013 hurricane season ends Saturday.

The season logged the fewest number of hurricanes since 1982, according the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The area was fortunate to be spared from any significant impacts this season; but it shouldn’t make residents complacent, said Onslow County Emergency Services Director Norman Bryson.

Bryson said it’s not a matter of if, but when the area will see another hurricane. And emergency preparedness, he said, doesn’t end with the close of the hurricane season.

Severe weather and emergency events can happen at any time.

“Hurricane season has ended, but that doesn’t mean we won’t have other storm events,” he said.

While it was a quiet hurricane season, it stands out after falling short of forecasts of an above-normal, and potentially very active hurricane season.

NOAA issued a news release this week that said the reason the season fizzled was due in large part to persistent, unfavorable atmospheric conditions over the Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean Sea and tropical Atlantic Ocean.

“This unexpectedly low activity is linked to an unpredictable atmospheric pattern that prevented the growth of storms by producing exceptionally dry, sinking air and strong vertical wind shear in much of the main hurricane formation region, which spans the tropical Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea,” said Gerry Bell, lead seasonal hurricane forecaster at NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center. “Also detrimental to some tropical cyclones this year were several strong outbreaks of dry and stable air that originated over Africa.”

Thirteen named storms formed in the Atlantic basin this year. Two, Ingrid and Humberto, became hurricanes, but neither became major hurricanes.

Although the number of named storms was just above the average of 12, the numbers of hurricanes and major hurricanes were well below their averages of six and three, respectively. Major hurricanes are categories 3 and above, according to the NOAA information.

Tropical Storm Andrea was the only named storm to make landfall in the United States this year.

While the United States missed the brunt of the season, Mexico was hit by eight storms, including three from the Atlantic Basin and five from the eastern North Pacific. Of the eight, five struck as tropical storms and three as hurricanes, NOAA said.